Steve Virgona (born 25 September 1978) is an Australian professional real tennis player based in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. , he is ranked number three in the world. Virgona's victories include the Australian Open (four times), the British Open (twice) and the US Open.

Career

Virgona started his career as a professional at the Ballarat real tennis club before moving to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

at the age of 18. Steve gained much success early by playing doubles, and reaching the final of the British Open in 2001. Virgona worked as a professional in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, primarily at the Burroughs club, before moving back to Melbourne in 2004. After securing a position in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

in 2006, Virgona's tennis improved markedly and his ranking rose to world number 2. He defeated world champion

Robert Fahey The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

twice in 2006, but lost his world championship campaign to

Tim Chisholm Tim Chisholm (born October 31, 1969) is a semi-retired American real tennis player. He is Racquets Director at The Tuxedo Club in Tuxedo Park, New York. Career A former lawn tennis player, Chisholm switched to the original game of tennis around ...

that year. Steve's tennis continued to improve, winning the Australian Open, and entered the 2008 world championships as the favourite to challenge Fahey. He lost narrowly to

Camden Riviere Camden Riviere (born 1987) is an American left-handed real tennis player and current world champion. He became 2016 Real Tennis World Championship, world champion on May 21, 2016, defeating long-time holder Robert Fahey 7 sets to 2 at Riviere's ho ...

in the final eliminator, and got revenge soon after in the US Open. In 2010, he won the US Open doubles championship, partnered by Ben Matthews.

References

1978 births Living people American real tennis players Australian real tennis players {{US-tennis-bio-stub